This section introduces various aspects of the art, which may be associated with exemplary embodiments of the present techniques. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the present techniques. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section should be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of prior art.
Infrastructure items, such as processing facilities, pipelines, pump stations, compressor stations, and the like, are often located in remote sites that make direct observation difficult. Accordingly, if a natural event, such as an earthquake, landslide, tsunami, or hurricane, among others, occurs in the vicinity of the infrastructure system, there is a need to determine the likelihood of damage and to organize and execute rapid assessment. This analysis will assist operations personnel in determining whether to shut down the infrastructure system. Various systems have been used to make this determination.
For example, an early system used remote digital strong motion accelerograph (DSMA) stations associated with specific locations of an infrastructure item, which was a pipeline in this case. The DMSA stations were comparable to commercial seismic instruments in use at that time. The remote DSMA stations had real-time computational capability and were linked to a central computer over a single telecommunications channel. Software resident on a central computer processed seismic event data to evaluate the severity of ground shaking along the pipeline route and assess the potential for damage to the pipeline and supporting facilities. Upon the occurrence of an event, an checklist of potentially damaged items associated with each location of the infrastructure was printed at the central location to guide emergency response.
Another system used a distributed network of computers at each of a number of DMSA stations located along a pipeline to perform processing of seismic events at that station. The distributed computing system allowed virtually all processing, communication, and control to be handled with software. As each DSMA station had equal processing status, i.e., there was no central computer performing the processing, each station could serve as a remote station for sensing and processing ground motion data broadcast by all other DSMA stations. Thus, each DSMA station generated checklists from the same earthquake data set, which could be retrieved by personnel at each respective location.
Another system has been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, termed “ShakeCast.” ShakeCast allows utilities, transportation agencies, businesses, and other large organizations to control and optimize the earthquake information they receive. With ShakeCast, an organization can automatically determine the shaking value at their facilities, set thresholds for notification of damage states for each facility, and then automatically notify (via pager, cell phone, or email) specified operators and inspectors within their organizations who are responsible for those particular facilities so that they can set priorities for response.
Accordingly, development activities have focused on developing new tools for alerting field personnel to hazards posed by natural events, evaluating the potential threat to the infrastructure integrity, and organizing field reconnaissance inspection. These tools will facilitate the identification of damage to the infrastructure item and the inspection of the infrastructure items for damage.